CH 11

“Eh, there is no way an F rank adventurer could fight head on with a monster like that!”

“Idiot! Shut up! We need to run while we still can! Once that guy gets killed we will be next!”

The adventurers nearby were in a panic.

However, that was fine.

Let those that want to run, run.

Even if they clumsily tried to help, they would be unable to follow the monster’s movements and F rank adventurers with cheap armor and low defense stats could do nothing against a Mad Head.

They would last ten seconds, tops.

I’m 【Lv：16】, as opposed to the Mad Head’s 【Lv：40】.

Even with me specializing in defense, I don’t know if I could survive a clean hit.

Its movements are easy to read, but also terrifyingly fast due to the level difference.

On average, the paralysis from the Mad Head’s special skill [Paralyzing Toxin of Decaying Flesh] goes away by itself in about three minutes.

If I can hold out for that long, then Goutan should be able to get back on his feet after Teil uses [Heal] on him.

I will hold out for that three minutes with everything I have.

“BWAAAAAH! BWAAAAAAAH!”

The Mad Head wildly swung both its hands back and forth.

I was already out of the Mad Head’s immediate reach and I kept in motion to dodge its attacks.

The Mad Head’s attacks have a long wind-up and are easy to read.

That’s why I should be able to calmly dodge its attacks, or so I thought….

“Guh!”

An overhead attack.

Dodging to the right and [Parry]ing its claws to the left, I was barely able to avoid it.

As expected, the difference in stats is too steep.

That being said, in [Magic World] I would’ve been able to cleanly dodge this attack….

The situation is very bad.

I wanted to keep to a safety first approach, so I didn’t think I would end up fighting against a much higher leveled enemy with zero preparation.

“O-oi, that Heavy Knight, doesn’t it look like he is fighting that monster on an equal footing that blew away Goutan-san?”

“Don’t say stupid things! No matter how you look at it, he’s dancing on a razor’s edge! The fact that he’s still alive is a miracle!”

Another adventurer’s voice could be heard from far away.

“Hey…. that guy, is he laughing right now?”

When I heard that question, I first thought he was talking about the Mad Head.

However, I soon realized that I had a grin on my face.

“Well damn….I wanted to avoid situations like this, but somehow, I don’t dislike it.”

High risk, high reward.

Something that happened in [Magic World] a lot too.

In case of defeat, the death penalty hurt pretty badly, so in terms of efficiency it was pretty lousy, but no proper man wouldn’t be fired up by a situation where your abilities are tested to the limit.

Let’s change tactics.

It seems, with my current abilities, if I keep letting the Mad Head attack continuously, then I won’t be able to evade everything.

To properly keep its attention, I will need to start attacking back.

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【Skill Tree】

［Remaining Skill points: 0］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[15/100]

〈Defense UP〉[0/50]

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]【＋5】

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I opened my [Status] and put all my points into [Beginner Swordsmanship].

I wanted to develop [Vow of the Heavy Armor], or get a new Skill Tree from an Item and develop that first, but well, it can’t be helped right now.

In the end the Skill I get from putting 【5】 points into [Beginner Swordsmanship] is something I intended to get in time anyway.

【With [Beginner Swordsmanship] reaching [5/50], you have gained the Normal Skill [Vital Blow].】

Good….!

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[Vital Blow] 【Normal Skill】

A technique that uses the flat of the blade to hit the opponent from a point blank distance.

It can more easily deal damage to opponents with high defense.

――――――――――――――――――――

Even in the [Beginner Swordsmanship] Tree the [Vital Blow] Skill is generally considered a failure.

One possible reason for that is most people would rather get the attack power increase whenever you equip a sword at 【10】 points investment first, so they come down on it even harder because of it.

And in fact, a move that sacrifices the long reach of the sword, one of its main strong points, just to hit the opponent from up close, is not something a swordsman would be using normally. Even the letter effect that lets it more easily damage opponents with higher defense would only come into play when fighting against higher level opponents, which you shouldn’t do anyway.

However, this Skill’s attack power is low, which mashes well with the high defense of the Heavy Knight.

Also, in [Magic World] your leveling speed basically depended on how much were you able to hunt higher leveled enemies.

In that case, the utility value of [Vital Blow], which can be expected to deal damage to most opponents, was high.

“BWAAAAAAAAH!”

I use [Parry] to divert another of the Mad Head’s attacks.

The impact force which I was unable to neutralize yet again blew me back, but by stabbing my sword into the ground I was able to use my momentum to turn my body half-way and roll near the Mad Head’s feet.

“BWAAH…..?”

The Mad Head lost sight of me.

“[Vital Blow]!”

I kept to its back as I launched a blow from point-blank range at the Mad Head.

The blow bruised the squishy insides underneath the thick skin.

“Bwah!”

The Mad Head’s body shook greatly, causing it to zero in on me right away.

It followed it up by frantically swinging its arms at me.

With its movements disturbed, they became even easier to read.

I used [Parry] to divert its overextended blow, as I ran around to get away from the Mad Head’s attack range.

When an opportunity presented itself I used [Vital Blow] to counterattack, thereby preventing the Mad Head from keeping up its one sided attacks.

However, since I wasn’t able to completely cancel out the Mad Head’s attack with [Parry], my HP also went down quite a bit.

I also got a number of hits in with [Vital Blow], but it wasn’t nearly that easy to deplete the Mad Head’s large HP pool.

“BWU….UUUUUH……!”

The Mad Head was positively, royally pissed off by the fact that he couldn’t easily deal with an obviously lesser opponent.

Thinking it would be ending this with its next attack, it struck the ground with both its giant hands to intimidate me.

“That’s right, Mad Head. This should be where the real fight starts. …..however, sorry about that, but my role wasn’t to defeat you.”

“UUUH….?”

Seeing me lowering my sword, the Mad Head let out a confused voice.

“[Dragon Killing Splitter]”

From behind the Mad Head Goutan leapt

Aiming for the top of its head, Goutan leapt high from behind the Mad Head and struck down hard with his axe.

A spray of blood erupted from the Mad Head’s skull, then its enormous body fell down.

The [Dragon Killing Splitter] is a big move that focuses on critical damage.

Although it’s a powerful move, since it has a long wind up time and leaves the user vulnerable, making it hard to hit a moving opponent, the situations it can be used in are limited.

However, the raging Mad Head was focusing on me.

It was late in noticing Goutan, who after his paralysis ran out and got his HP recovered, approached it from behind.

【You have gained 330 experience points.】

【Your level has increased from 16 to 23.】

【You have gained 7 Skill points.】

Most of the experience points should have gone to Goutan, but I still got a phenomenal amount.

Getting this many Skill points is also sweet as hell.

I even ended up with more than I used up.